PlaySlumdog Millonaire, Frost/Nixon and The Reader will fly the flag for Britain at the Academy Awards on February 22 after they featured strongly in the nominations on Thursday.
Danny Boyle is up for Best Director and Simon Beaufoy for Best Adapted Screenplay, together with the blue riband category of Best Picture that also includes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Reader.
Kate Winslet only features in the Best Actress race for The Reader, where she faces strong competition, while Heath Ledger was awarded a posthumous nomination for The Dark Knight in the Best Supporting Actor race.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads the way overall with 13 nominations, the third highest in Oscar history, with Slumdog close behind on 10 and The Dark Knight and Milk on eight apiece.
Awards veteran Meryl Streep also notched up a 15th Oscar nomination for her role as a nun in Doubt, ahead of the ceremony hosted by actor Hugh Jackman on February 22 at the Kodak Theatre in LA.
The nominations for the main categories are..
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Click here to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button trailer
Frost/Nixon
Click here to see the Frost/Nixon Bafta chat
Milk
Click here to see the Milk trailer
The Reader
Click here to see Kate in The Reader clip
Slumdog Millionaire
Click here to see our Slumdog Millionaire videos
Best Actress
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Best Actor
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams for Doubt
Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jnr for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road
Best Director
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Screenplay
Courtney Hunt for Frozen River
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Peter Docter for Wall.E
Best Adapted Screenplay
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley for Doubt
Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex from Germany
The Class from France
Departures from Japan
Revanche from Austria
Best Animated Film
Bolt
